ARA Review by Chaotic_Reading of The Boy who Lived with Ghosts

[Chaotic_Reading]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Boy who Lived with Ghosts.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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The Boy Who Lived with Ghosts by John Mitchell is the story of a family who, while growing up in England, watches the eldest daughter succumb to madness.

This book is wild and heartbreaking. The different points of view as Johnny matures are pretty intense, but watching through Johnny’s eyes as Margueretta slowly descends into madness is both heart-wrenching and fascinating. Mitchell has done a fantastic job of retelling this heartbreaking story from his childhood, and I hope he was able to obtain the healing he needed.

Mixed in with Margueretta’s story are more sad stories: the father disappears, which leaves their mom to try to take care of everyone, but she can barely do so. They move houses and there are segments of the story where Johnny talks about not eating in order to save up a little money to help his mother feel better by guying tiling for the kitchen floors. He keeps it a secret, but I’m sure his mom knew. The mother, in her desperation to provide for her children, takes on orphan children, but all she gets in return for her efforts is more heartbreak when the children she had begun to raise are taken back by the parents. There was also racism, sexism, multiple types of abuse, and just overall injustice for Johnny and his family during this period of their lives.

I read in the author’s note that this story was written because his sister actually asked him to tell it before she sadly passed. The rest of the family seems to be doing well considering the tragedy that befell their family.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars because I was unable to put it down. I was intrigued from cover to cover on what was going to happen, and what was the actual cause of all that was going on. The writing, though sad, is captivating. It was a great read!

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